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Fetch TV rebrands kicking off $10m marketing drive with Ross Creative Counsel

Fetch TV has dropped ‘TV’ from its branding to become simply Fetch ahead of a major marketing drive aimed at luring people from rival platforms to the “one-stop shop” with creative guided by the former founder of Cummins Ross.

Fetch has streamlined its brand, dropping TV from its name

In a huge shift for the business, Fetch has also convinced its broadband partners including iinet, Dodo iPrimus and others to drop their own branding from marketing for the platform as it pushes to become a major challenger to Foxtel.

With their own ad spends, marketing support for Fetch could double to as much as $20m in coming months.

Fetch has appointed former founder of Cummins Ross, Jason Ross of Ross Creative Counsel, to handle the account with a national campaign kicking off last night.

Fetch CEO Lorson said the brand was inconsistent

Fetch CEO Scott Lorson told Mumbrella it was a new era for the brand as the National Broadband Network become available around the country.

“We are investing in a strong launch phase, to be followed by an ‘Always on’ strategy. The total media spend by Fetch and our partners during the launch phase will be significant, well north of $10m,” Lorson said.

The CEO admitted that with a range of different approaches to the brand by its platform partners, Fetch had become a “brand soup” that lacked clarity in the eyes of consumers.

Optus had several incarnations of the Fetch TV brand, ending with Yes TV with Fetch, while Dodo marketed Dodo TV by Fetch, and iiNet promoted iiNet TV with Fetch.

All except Optus, who remain in ongoing discussions with the brand, will now call the it ‘Fetch’.

Jason Ross won an eight-way pitch for the Fetch business

“We have had an inconsistent and incoherent go-to market strategy. It was time to create a consumer brand that speaks with one voice. This is the biggest thing we have ever done,” Lorson said.

He said Fetch was looking at a potential market of 6.9m Australian homes which currently do not have Foxtel – with Fetch currently serving around 500,000 subscribers.

Sue Brenchley, marketing director for Fetch, said that the brand’s new position was solving a problem that existed for consumers – the high price of pay TV and the frustration of having to juggle multiple inputs and remotea when switching between free-to-air TV and streaming services such as Stan and Netflix.

“It is a crowded market and people are confronted,” Brenchley said.

She said around 10% to 20% of the market currently had a clear understanding of Fetch, although prompted awareness of the brand rose to 56%.

“We had to create awareness and understanding in one go,” she said.

Ross Creative Council came up with the idea of “Fetch. We Bring It”.

“You bring the TV and we’ll fetch the entertainment,” Ross said.

The campaign will be heavily skewed to women.

Ross won the business after an eight-way pitch, with Lorson and Benchley saying the agency had managed to deliver a complete brand platform which will allow it to market throughout the year and capitalise on the range of series which will come through its channel partners.

Benchley said the media schedule would include all three commercial networks as well as a significant regional media buy and support through digital and social as well as using influencers on Facebook and Instagram.

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